Dr Caroline Barwood pleads not guilty to seven fraud-related offences

AAP, AAP

October 24, 2016 7:15pm

A FORMER University of Queensland researcher has been found guilty of falsifying Parkinson’s disease research to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.

A Brisbane District Court jury on Monday found Dr Caroline Barwood, 31, guilty of two charges of fraud and three charges of attempted fraud, but failed to reach a majority verdict on two other charges.

The week-long trial heard Barwood obtained or tried to obtain about $700,000 from different organisations between 2011 and 2013 in relation to a Parkinson’s disease study that never took place.

Barwood also copied the papers of another academic that she then passed off as her own to apply for grants, fellowship and travel funding.

The research assistant was at the time in an intimate relationship with UQ professor Bruce Murdoch, who first approached her to help him with his Parkinson’s study in 2009.

Barwood admitted during an investigation by the university’s integrity unit she had her doubts about the research having “not even met a single patient”. She also never saw patient consent forms, their files or ethical clearance forms.

“I put my trust in him,” Barwood told the investigators.

“There is not a lot of evidence ... it really pains me to admit that.” Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco said in her sentencing submissions Barwood’s fraudulent conduct not only cost the university money, but meant other applicants missed out on much-needed funding.

Ms Marco said the research also gave false hope to patients and harmed UQ’s reputation.

Defence lawyer Gregory McGuire said Barwood had lost her academic career because of a lie Professor Murdoch told.

“She has paid an extraordinarily high price already,” he said. Mr McGuire said the mother of one had always had an “altruistic” attitude and believed she was alleviating the suffering of others.

Judge Terry Martin will hand down his sentence on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr Caroline Barwood has pleaded not guilty to seven fraud-related offences between September 2011 and May 2013.

It is alleged Barwood falsely claimed in applications sent to associations, including the National Health and Medical Research Council, she had been involved in the research, which was published in the European Journal of Neurology and listed her as co-author.

Of the six applications, only two successful including a $20,000 grant from Parkinson’s Queensland awarded to her and her supervisor, Professor Bruce Murdoch.

On the third day of her Brisbane District Court trial, audio was played to the jury of an August 2013 interview Barwood had with a panel of five from the university’s research integrity unit.

Questioned about the study, she told them her input was “intellectual” through providing information or advice.

“I can’t attest to having seen any of the patients or gone through any of the data collections,” she said in the tape.

Later, Barwood admitted there were a “few alarm bells” concerning the study, but added, “you assume that ... someone is not leading you down the garden path”.

Barwood quietly sobbed in the prisoners’ dock as the jury heard audio of her telling the integrity panel she was now “worried” about having her name is attached to it.

She said it pained her to admit there was “not a lot of evidence” relating to data collection.